Marathon
by CrystalMaiden77
Summary: Phoebe and Fiona have a confrontation, despite Fiona's best efforts to avoid one. After she tells her off in the skate park, Fiona ends up running for her life.


" Oh, hey, Phoebe, " Fiona said politely after bumping into her in the skate park. She knew that she had to try her best not to offend her, because if she did, there would be dire consequences. With her arms crossed, Phoebe said in contempt, " Hello, FIONA. " Worried, Fiona smiled nervously and said, " How's it going? " Annoyed with the small talk, Phoebe rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, " _Perfect..._ and how about you? " Still trying to be polite, Fiona replied, " Great, " and saw that as her cue to walk away.

" It must be nice being allowed to hang out with Coop all the time, " Phoebe said in contempt with her arms crossed. Disappointed that she couldn't leave, Fiona turned back around to reluctantly continue the conversation. " Well, if it makes you feel better, I barely ever get to see him. You know, because I live in _another town_ and all. It doesn't make for a really close friendship when I only see him once in a blue moon. "

Phoebe reluctantly agreed with her; that definitely wasn't something she envied about her. She would hate living far away from Coop and barely ever getting to see him. Phoebe sighed and said in annoyance, " I _know_ , and I'd hate to be in that situation too, but you're still way luckier than I am! You've still spent more quality time with Coop than I have in my entire life! "

Trying to make her feel better, Fiona said nervously, " It's nothing special, Phoebe. We play soccer and go skateboarding and play video games, typical friend stuff! I'm not exactly having the _time_ of my _life_ around him. "

" I WOULD! I'd be _delighted_ if Coop even offered to have lunch with me as a FRIEND! You have no idea how lucky you are! Quit whining about your good luck. It's getting on my nerves, " Phoebe complained, clearly angrier than she was before. Again, Fiona wished that she could just walk away from her and end the conversation before a fight started, but she knew that Phoebe would get even angrier at being ignored by her, and the last thing she wanted was to have an enraged Phoebe on her hands.

" I'm sorry. I'm not trying to complain! I'm just trying to make you feel better. I know how upset you are about your situation, but trust me, Coop and I are just friends, and that's not going to change for a _very_ long time. Long-distance relationships just _don't_ _work_ , and my Auntie Munson's _constantly_ telling me to stay away from him _already_. My _point_ is, we don't really _do_ anything that friends wouldn't do. I've never held his hand or hugged him, and in fact, I've never even kissed him! I promise. "

" So, let me get this straight; you like Coop, but you don't bother with trying to be his girlfriend because you're barely ever in Bootsville and Old Lady Munson hates him, so you're going to wait until you're a lot older to take things to the next level? " Fiona nodded, smiling nervously. She replied, " That's right, " feeling hope.

" So if you _really_ ' like ' Coop so much, why aren't you jumping at every opportunity to be close to him? " Fiona answered while looking uncomfortable, " Because, _you know_ , kissing and hand-holding and stuff is a boyfriend-girlfriend thing, and if I did that with him, we wouldn't be just friends anymore, so it would make things harder for us. A long-distance friendship is hard enough, but with a long distance relationship, there's all sorts of problems. It just wouldn't work. Coop needs to understand that right now. "

" So you're _perfectly_ _fine_ with _not_ showing him _any_ love and affection and not being given _any_ in _return?_ " Phoebe seemed increasingly annoyed, which confused Fiona. " Well... I'm not exactly miserable about it. That's just the way things have to be. If I lived in Bootsville and my Auntie Munson was supportive, things would be different. I... I don't know why you're so annoyed with this, Phoebe. I thought you'd be happy! "

Phoebe finally snapped. " Don't you get it, Fiona?! YOU DON'T LOVE HIM! " Taken aback, Fiona said after flinching, " HUH?! " She looked around in a panic, and was confused that nobody was watching.

" If you _really_ loved him, you'd be all _over_ him! How is this supposed to make me feel better?! All it does is prove that Coop's become infatuated with someone who doesn't love and appreciate him as much as she should! He doesn't DESERVE to be with someone who doesn't APPRECIATE him! He should be with someone who loves him so much that she can't control herself around him and never misses an opportunity to show him how much she CARES! Darn it, Fiona, Coop is my HERO and HE SHOULD BE TREATED LIKE ONE! "

" YOU'LL NEVER BE HAPPY, WILL YOU?! If I treated him that way, you'd be even MORE jealous and even MORE upset! I can't win for losing! I can't do anything to make you happy! No matter how hard I tried to make a polite conversation with you, you twisted it around to make an argument anyways! It's like you WANT to treat me like _dirt!_ It's like you WANT me to _hate_ you! It's like you're constantly picking on me because you're desperate to find a _good_ reason to _hate_ me! All you wanna do is justify your jealousy, but you know what, you CAN'T! I don't know who you think you are, but you don't DESERVE him! He doesn't DESERVE to put up with a spiteful spoiled brat who goes ballistic if he looks at another girl! If he deserves better than me, _fine,_ that's a _possibility_ , but he DEFINITELY deserves better than YOU! "

There was a shocked silence as Phoebe let it all sink in. Fiona quickly realized that she had destroyed any chances she had of getting away from her without a fight, and Phoebe couldn't believe that Fiona had it in her to go on an angry rant like that. After five seconds, Phoebe reacted with just one simple response.

She slapped her across the face as hard as she could. " OW! " Fiona exclaimed, rubbing her bruised cheek in pain. She instantly became frightened at seeing Phoebe glaring daggers at her with her fists clenched and shaking in rage, and did what anyone would do at that moment; she ran. She turned around and ran for her life, with no warning ahead of time, and it took half a second for Phoebe to start chasing after her.

Fiona ran out of the skate park, down the street and into the forest with Phoebe chasing after her. After several minutes of running nonstop as fast as she possibly could, Fiona had become tired, becoming increasingly agitated with every step. She ran as fast she could, but Phoebe just wouldn't stop chasing her.

Eventually, the chase became too much for her to handle, and she couldn't take it anymore. She quickly dashed to the right and ran through some thick bushes, and then dashed immediately to the left and continued running in a straight line, hoping to throw Phoebe off her trail. It worked. Exhausted, Fiona reluctantly continued running, gasping and wheezing as a red haze obscured her vision and she started to see spots, slowly losing all of her energy.

After a few seconds, she tripped on a tree root and collapsed to the ground. By that point, she had become so exhausted that she passed out as soon as she hit the ground, her eyes closed with her face in a sad expression, desperately hoping that she had thrown Phoebe off her trail. Lying on the ground with her head to the side, her senses faded and everything around her slowly went dark as she continuously breathed in deep breaths, losing consciousness from exhaustion. After a couple seconds, she fainted at last.

" AH-HA! I FOUND YOU! " Finally catching up with Fiona, Phoebe pushed aside the bushes after an exhausting chase through the forest, and saw Fiona lying on the ground with her eyes closed. Frustrated and confused, Phoebe rushed to her side and said, " HUH?! What the heck are you DOING?! This is no time to take a NAP! WAKE UP AND FIGHT ME! "

There was a silence, and Phoebe's impatience grew. She knew she had to wait until Fiona regained consciousness to start fighting with her, because she couldn't find any satisfaction in beating her up if she wasn't aware of it while it was happening. But right now, she was completely overwhelmed with negative emotions, and not being able to express it right away was stressing her out severely.

She growled, and rolled Fiona over on her back. There was no response; Fiona didn't even move in response to it. " If you think I'm falling for the ' playing dead ' trick, you're WRONG! " Phoebe checked her vital signs, and sure enough, she found them; Fiona's heart was beating, faster than normal in fact, and she was definitely breathing. If Fiona was indeed not aware of anything around her, it wasn't because she was dead; it must have been because she passed out from exhaustion.

" She fainted, huh? Well... that'll teach HER to run away, " Phoebe muttered in annoyance, not nearly as angry as she used to be. Like Fiona, she was exhausted after all that running. In fact, she would've fainted herself if she had gone on running for at least another minute. It was only the pure adrenaline of her rage that let her run so fast for so long, because the anger caused her to ignore how tired she was and focus completely on chasing after the girl who hurt her feelings. In a way, Phoebe was a tad relieved that she wasn't able to get into a satisfying fight with her right away; she was far too exhausted from the chase to fight, especially not at full strength. If Fiona had been awake right away, Phoebe probably would've attacked her for just a minute before getting too tired and giving up, much to her humiliation. " Well, I suppose this is for the best. I do need some rest after all that running... " Phoebe muttered, still impatiently waiting for Fiona to wake up.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her; what if Fiona never wakes up? What if she passed out because of an actual medical emergency? Phoebe checked her pulse again; it WAS rather fast. Panicked, Phoebe remembered how she had yelled at Fiona in the skate park. She was in the skate park; a public place that was filled to the brim with witnesses. She was the last person Fiona was ever seen with, and many people would attest to this. The last people saw of her was her being chased down the street by Phoebe. A sense of dread overcame her. She had no alibi. If anything happened to Fiona, she would be blamed, and it would ruin her life. It didn't even matter if all that happened was Fiona needed to go to the hospital. She would still be blamed for the emergency, and everyone would hate her for it.

Fortunately for Phoebe, Fiona started to move again before she got panicked enough to completely freak out. " FIONA?! " Phoebe exclaimed in shocked confusion. This caused a reaction from Fiona, predictably one of fear. Impatient and frantic, Phoebe lifted Fiona to a sitting position and held her up so that she wouldn't fall over, unknowingly giving Fiona a head rush, while shouting, " WAKE UP, WAKE UP, _ALREADY!_ I'VE BEEN WAITING _FOREVER_ FOR YOU! "

Fiona groaned, " I'm awake, I'm awake! " sounding surprised and tired at the same time. She forced her eyes open, squinting and blinking rapidly for a few seconds as her eyes readjusted to the light, and saw that Phoebe was sitting beside her with her arm around her to keep her sitting up. Phoebe looked annoyed and impatient, but her expression took on a whole new meaning when she exclaimed, " What HAPPENED to YOU?! "

Thrown for a loop, Fiona responded sleepily, " Huh? " Phoebe exclaimed, " Why were you PASSED OUT?! I was beginning to think you'd NEVER wake up! You had me WORRIED I had _KILLED_ you! You made me think you had a _heart_ attack! Do you know what I was about to DO?! If anything happened to you in this forest, there's a skate park full of witnesses who would ruin my life over it, and I'm not about to let that happen ANY time soon! What were you THINKING, yelling at me like that? You should've KNOWN I would get mad at you! Why did you have to run away?! Why did you have to be such a COWARD?! Why couldn't you just STAY there and FIGHT me? "

" Wait, wait, wait, back up!... I had you WORRIED? " There was a silence as Fiona let it sink in. Finally, she said, " You were WORRIED about me... " in amazement. " ME? " Phoebe looked nervous, and was surprised when Fiona slowly gave her a warm smile. " You were _worried!_ " she said happily, and quickly hugged her.

Phoebe sighed unhappily at Fiona seeing her soft side, and returned her hug while reluctantly saying, " _Yes,_ Fiona, I was _worried_. " She thought, " _Yeah, Phoebe, you were worried that you would be accused of murder and it would ruin your life! And that's the only reason you were worried, because- NO! SHUT UP, conscience! That's NOT the only reason! I CARE about her! And you KNOW I do, so shut up and stop insulting me already!_ "

" Phoebe, are you crying? " Phoebe jumped and stammered, " Wh-Wh-What?! " still being hugged. Fiona said with concern, " Well, it's just that, you're getting my shoulder wet... Was it something I said? " It finally dawned on her that her rant against Phoebe might have hurt her feelings.

" Phoebe... is this about before? " Fiona asked sadly, with a voice full of guilt. Phoebe was so humiliated at being caught at her most vulnerable by Fiona that she broke down sobbing in front of her, unable to suppress her sadness any longer. Feeling terrible, Fiona gasped and apologized, " I KNEW it! I'm SO SORRY! I wasn't planning on yelling at you that much and saying all those hurtful things! I regretted it as soon as I said it, I promise! I'm so sorry I said that there was nothing to love about you, because it's NOT TRUE! You're _pretty_ and _strong_ and _brave_ and _clever_ , and you're the most _loyal_ person I've ever _met!_ And I bet you can be really _sweet_ when you _wanna_ be... I'm sorry about what I said, Phoebe. You're not just a pretty _rich_ girl; there's more to you than that, and I'm sorry I overlooked everything else about you, just because we got off on the wrong foot... The way you act around me... it isn't you... I understand that now... You're not normally like that, that's not how you usually are around people, and I shouldn't have based my every opinion of you on... your hatred of me... " Her voice seemed to crack when she was apologizing to her.

Phoebe was still miserable. The apology was heartwarming and sincere, especially the part with all the compliments - Phoebe couldn't believe there were so many good things about her that even someone who hated her could plainly see - but that didn't change the fact that parts of the apology just made her feel even worse. They reminded her of the way she treated Fiona when she first met her, when she was overwhelmed with stress and took it out on her, using her as her own personal stress ball. After that day, Phoebe was certain that she had made Coop and Dennis hate her for good. If they didn't hate her before, they certainly did now, and the thought of it broke her heart. Everything had been ruined, and all because she was stupid enough to show up at a birthday party that she knew for a fact that nobody wanted her to be at, all because of her complete lack of self-control. Her admiration for Coop and desire to get close to him drowned out the sound of her conscience screaming at her to stop annoying her hero and leave him alone. And because Fiona showed up, it was made even worse, because somehow she managed to make an even worse impression than she would've anyways.

Phoebe wanted to stop crying, but she physically couldn't, not while she was still overwhelmed with guilt, self-loathing, stress and despair. The only silver lining about this humiliating turn of events was that Fiona was showing her that she actually cared about her after everything that happened. It was embarrassing, but it was also incredibly heartwarming. Phoebe actually wanted to thank her, but couldn't, because her voice would come out as choked up, and she didn't want to risk looking even more pathetic.

Trying to make her feel better, Fiona asked gently, " Hey... would you be okay with me taking you home and... spending some time with you? " There was a silence, and Fiona added, " I'll wait until you're ready. "

After a few seconds of consideration, Phoebe reluctantly nodded. As reluctant as she was to spend quality time with her rival, she knew that this was what she needed, and a part of her actually wanted to like Fiona and stop getting extremely stressed out every time she thought about her.

Phoebe sniffled, wiped away the last of her tears, and said with a nervous smile, " Thank you, " as Fiona pulled away. The two of them stood up from the ground with some difficulty and started walking together, headed for Phoebe's house to spend some time with each other for the very first time. Phoebe couldn't believe it was actually going to happen, and neither could Fiona, but both of them were grateful for it.


End file.
